Culture

This year marked an important first for Bass Performance Hall: a collaboration between FWSO and the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, marking the 50th anniversary of the youth group. The program included rousing performances of Scheherazade, 1812 Overture, Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila, and more. The stage was nearly overflowing, and the concert hall was packed. The performance was so polished, you never would have known musicians as young as 16 were playing.

For Worth Symphony Orchestra recently created an artistic partnership with Van Cliburn gold medalist Vadym Kholodenko, and their first collaboration brought six principal FWSO musicians to the Kimbell’s Piano Pavilion concert hall for a lively and gorgeous program of works by Brahms and Poulenc. Kholodenko’s technical wizardry blended gorgeously with the unique personalities of the orchestra musicians.

Poet Logen Cure put out a “best” book this year. Photo by Kayla Stigall.

There’s something about poetry that makes the heart feel less lonely and lets the body know that it’s not alone in its torment. Tarrant County College advisor and instructor Cure writes about love and coming of age in a way that’s full of sorrow and metered grace. From Still, the poet’s third book, “Landmine” is exemplary: “I learned to cradle / My body in my own arms, / To keep my distance, / Stifle yawns and sneezes. / I never knew my ribs were involved in every movement until they hurt, until she decided the best way / To my heart would be straight through my chest.”

Filmmaker

Critic’s choice: Bill McAdams Jr.

In the movies, timing is everything. And for self-taught filmmaker and writer Bill McAdams Jr., his filmic exploration of racial violence in small-town Texas may spark a national conversation that’s long overdue. Filmed in Aledo, Gallows Road stars Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters, Kevin Hercules Sorbo, and McAdams, 45, who has worked on set with giants like Steven Spielberg and David Lynch. And McAdams also once served as stunt double for Matt Damon. Unlike today’s real racially motivated tragedies, the Christian-inspired Gallows Road has a happy ending.

First-timeproducer and director Porter Farrell wrote a script, corralled a cast and crew, and shot a flick on a tight budget in nearby Gainesville last year. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Wrong. He wrote the script especially for Fort Worth-based actor Barry Corbin, who gave a powerful and charming performance as on old guy battling cancer while also serving as a mentor to a handful of high school kids. Windsor is funny and heartwarming, features several of young Hollywood’s rising stars such as Quinn Shephard and Nick Krause, and won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the 13th Annual Garden State Film Festival in New Jersey in March.

TBT began its season with a sumptuous revival of Tchaikovsky’s epic, with sets and costumes by Broadway’s Desmond Heeley and choreography by artistic director Ben Stevenson after the Russian original. The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, under the splendid direction of Michael Moricz, was in the pit for the wonderful dancing. TBT is a regional company but has world-class talent.

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